


Scarlet Heartbeat

by NitroTheKidd



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Dubious Consent, I have one headcannon and its that akechi is gay do not take it away from me, Implied/Referenced Brainwashing, Other, Pre-Royal, Speculation, based off a dream so that's why it doesn't make any sense, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2020-03-19 19:37:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18977023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NitroTheKidd/pseuds/NitroTheKidd
Summary: The two sat at the end of the world, watching as the masses bent to their will."Isn't this lovely?" she asks, cradling her beloved's head. And he knows he has no choice but to agree, unless his warmth were to leave.





	Scarlet Heartbeat

**Author's Note:**

> A loose drabble based on a dream I had. I don't trust Kasumi because of it.
> 
> If you are reading this after October 31st, 2019, I would like to formally apologize if Kasumi is actually a decent person.

_**K:** I need you to meet with me after school. _

 

_**G:** Is something the matter? _

 

_**K:** Please, Goro. I need you. _

_**K:** Meet me in Shibuya Station. _

_**K:** It's urgent. _

* * *

 

_From the way she wrote over the phone, Goro Akechi almost assumed Kasumi was leaving the country. But, no, she was sat calmly at a table, hands interlocked and her face completely still._

 

_“I'm here, like you asked.” Goro muttered, sliding into the adjacent chair. “You…_

 

_Kasumi sighed, darkly. “Goro… I need you to promise me something.”_

 

_He chuckled at that- “Oh, is that all? I thought it would be-”_

 

_“Goro.”_

 

_Her voice was firm, cutting through the air like a knife. Kasumi was a bit of an odd one, but… Not malicious, as far as he knew._

 

_After all, why would she bother to break through to him?_

 

_She grabs onto his gloved hands, desperately. There's a look in her eyes that he doesn't quite like. Too dark, too clouded._

 

_“Promise me that you won't leave me. No matter what.” Her voice pleaded, desperately, but her eyes were empty._

 

_“...What is this about?” He asked, furrowing his brow._

 

_“Please…” her voice began to crack. “I wouldn't be asking you if it wasn't important.” Tears welled up in those eyes trying so desperately to not show emotion._

 

_… “Okay.” Goro nods, and a tight feeling grows in his gut. “I promise. I'll remain your companion.”_

 

_For a brief moment, he feels his heart grow still, and for one even quicker, he feels Kasumi's beating as well, and a sneer on her face, a powerful Persona standing tall behind her. But, as he recoils, it vanishes all the same._

 

_“G-Goro?”_

 

_“...Sorry. I imagined something, is all.” He shakes his head, and puts on a smile, reaching to wipe away the tears threatening to fall from Kasumi's face. “You don't mind if I stay a little longer, do I?”_

 

_And she smiles, so bright. “Of course!”_

 

 _And he can still feel the beat of a heart that isn't his own._  

* * *

 

_He opens up the Metaverse Navigator on the walk back to his apartment. He gulps, and feels almost guilty as he whispers “Kasumi Yoshizawa”._

 

 _His heart drops when it's a hit._  

* * *

 

_He has a strange dream, that night. Of a world in flames, like hell mixed with Tokyo itself. Where he traveled as the Black Mask, trudging through mindless husks that were once civilians. The air was heavy and thick, and the world was bathed in an endless night._

 

_When he finally made it to the Scramble crossing, there was a masked figure, dancing to Saint-Saëns. The music was distorted, the world around them threatened to crumble, and yet they danced all the same._

 

_When they laid eyes upon him, they outstretched their hand. Though he tried to resist, Goro took it in desperation, feeling a heartbeat he now lacked. He was pulled forwards, until he met crimson eyes, and a red glove withdrew the mask._

 

_Kasumi smiled, and said- “Stay with me, Goro. Forever.”_

 

 _Goro bolted upright in a cold sweat, quaking like a leaf. He reached to the side of his neck, feeling the beat of his heart- and_ _his_ _alone._

 

_He grabbed his phone, and again, that guilt rose._

 

_**G:** Yoshizawa-san is your acquaintance, correct? _

 

...

 

...

 

_**R:** Yeah, I guess so. _

_**R:** Why do you ask? _

 

_**G:** … I know you and your friends are suspicious of me, and rightfully so. But, this is something you have to believe me for. _

 

_**G:** Do not trust her. _

* * *

_“Hey, Goro…”_

 

_It was a few months, since that day. Goro had pushed it to the back of his head, and acted like normal._

 

_Or, well, tried to._

 

_Strange things happened since that day. The second heartbeat, ever persistent. And the nightmares kept repeating, again and again._

 

_Sometimes, he tried harder to resist. Sometimes, he broke out of her grasp. But, it would always end the same. Desperation would overtake him, and he would cling to her like a lost child, desperate for warmth, desperate for the sign of life._

 

_“I knew you'd come through.” She'd taunt. She'd pet him, too. Like he was an animal- and he felt like one. He felt as soulless, as lifeless as the husks that shuffled through the streets, until he came under her touch._

 

_But, he learned to separate this Kasumi, and the Kasumi in his dreams._

 

_“I need you to follow me.” Her voice was cold again, her expression blackened again._

 

_“So urgently?...” He uttered. “Couldn't we-”_

 

 _“You_ _promised_ _, Goro.”_

 

_And promise he did. And follow, he did as well._

 

_Right into mementos._

 

_“What the hell…” he uttered. Robin Hood had manifested itself this time, rather than Loki, and his outfit shifted to reflect that._

 

_Kasumi was donned in the same dark clothes she had in his dreams._

 

_“You recognize this outfit, then?” She asked. “Perhaps that's why you've been suspicious of me.” Kasumi sat down, so casually, on a bench, arms outstretched across the top. Her hand was grabbing something, a sphere, and Goro found himself mimicking the action subconsciously. He blinked, and pulled away._

 

_“Kasumi...” He uttered, darkly. His trust had been betrayed, no matter how badly he hoped otherwise. “What have you done?..” Loki grasped at his heart, feeding in his anger, his sorrow._

 

 _“You won't leave me. That's what you promised to. We're connected, now.” Her voice was far too cheery, her expression far too calm. She stopped, and Goro gained a close glance at the object- a blood red eye. It stared back at him with_ _lust._

 

_And he laughed at that, dropping his mask. “Is that all this is? You travelled into Mementos and pulled some strings to pursue a petty crush?”_

 

_“This isn't just a crush, Goro.” She smiled. “You're the only one who made me feel this way. You're the one who cured me.”_

 

 _And he laughed-_ _harder_ _. He turned breathless, gasping for air and hunching over._

 

 _“Don't_ _laugh_ _, Goro.”_

 

 _And he_ _almost_ _obeyed, but he merely calmed, standing upright, but limp, wiping a tear from his eye._

 

_“Oh, I feel sorry for you…” he uttered, Loki tearing at his heart, and the strings that bound the two of them together. “You picked the worst crush, honestly. The culprit of the mental shutdown cases, Shido's bastard, hidden behind mask after mask-”_

 

_“I know.” She smiled. “And I still love you, despite it.”_

 

 _He sneered in response, voice filled with venom. “And_ _gay_ _, to top it off.”_

 

_…_

 

_…_

 

_And then, something snapped. The pulse quickened in rage._

 

_“You… You were…” her muttering was shaky, broken. “But… That's why, with Amamiya…”_

 

_“I'm sorry to disappoint you.” He uttered, as his outfit wrapped itself in navy and ebony. He drew his blade, slowly, limply. “I'm sorry that I trusted you.”_

 

_“...No. I'm sorry.” Kasumi speaks, and stands upright. “That I didn't tell you what I was capable of.”_

 

 _She grabs onto that eye, and the pulse grows louder. Suddenly, Goro feels sorrow, heartbreak,_ _rage_ _unfamiliar to him. And that lust, that bizarre infatuation, he almost gags, had it not intruded so suddenly._

 

_“You feel that, don't you?” She asks, and smiles- crooked and wide-eyed. “We're connected, now. Isn't it intimate?”_

 

_“You're insane…” Goro growls, calling Loki to his side. He hopes that she can feel his betrayal._

 

 _And he bares eyes on that persona again, and wonders how he could have been so naive. How he could have_ _hoped_ _so desperately for another outcome._

 

_“Says the killer.” So nonchalant, as she flickers with the blood-red eye- but he can see it. His rage on her face… “But, I see. On your own, you have no worth to society, but you won't even be of use to me? Very well.”_

 

_The eye. She's grabbing hard onto it. He gasps in surprise, a sudden dread filling his body._

 

_“Kasumi… What are you doing?!”_

 

_She laughs- a hollow chuckle. He won't have enough time, he realizes, and he forces Loki to attack himself, the persona running its arm down its massive crimson claymore._

 

_“If I can't have you…”_

 

_“Kasumi!” He roars, a red aura blazing around him as he darts forwards. Primal rage and energy fills his being, and he reaches for her hand, for that cursed eye, with a manic scowl._

 

_“No one will.”_

 

_Their hands interlock, and what feels like sinew and glass shards meet their hands._

 

_Instantly, ice fills Goro's vessel, the psychotic rage fading away. He steps back, staring at Kasumi in fear._

 

_“You…”_

 

_A single tear wells up in her eye, a melancholic smile on her face. Goro blinks- mist and haze begins to form in his mind._

 

_He recognizes this feeling._

 

_He reaches under his helm, to the side of his neck- and feels nothing. A husk without a heart. He steps back further, further- knowing what comes next. Kasumi begins to step closer._

 

 _“Don't touch me… Don't_ _touch_ me! _” He screams, he pleads, and she only comes closer. He can hear it, what he lacks. The beat of a heart that he so desperately craves. To feel human. To feel warm. And he denies it, with all of his being._

 

_The scarlet-clad hand reaches forwards, and Goro's back is pressed against the wall. The beat comes closer, closer, his screams more scared and desperate._

 

_And, inevitably, finally, it touches, rubbing the side of his chest, making her heartbeat his own. The fog clears, and warmth fills his body. It's like a drug- almost enough to make him forget his fear, his hatred, his sorrow. Tears run down his face, sobs heave in his lungs, and he accepts his fate, as he embraces Kasumi, desperately clinging onto her torso._

 

_She smiles, knowing she does despite his eyes being buried into her coat, and rubs his head, like she's consoling a child._

 

 _“It's okay… You can't leave me now.”_  

* * *

 

_Kasumi sits atop her throne of thorns, empress of the new world. The veins of Jaldabaoth course through the streets, tearing through the structure of Tokyo._

 

_“Kasumi!”_

 

_She looks down, having to crane her beloved's head aside. His eyes are shut, yet his every breath in her grasp sends shivers down her spine._

 

_Joker glares upwards at her, fury in his eyes. His folly stand behind him, equally upset._

 

_“Look at that…” she mutters, nonchalant. “We have visitors, dear.”_

 

_Goro stirs. “V… Visitors…” he echoes, voice raspy and breaths haggard._

 

_“Yes, that's right.” She smiles, and turns his head to look at her, lifting up the visor. His eyes are glassed over, empty, yet longing. An expression she's used to. “How about you get rid of them for me? Kill them all.”_

 

_“...Kill… Kill them.” Again, he repeats, but turns to the so-called Phantom Thieves as he does so. He draws his sword, and begins to crawl out from her grasp. “I'll… I'll do anything… for you…”_

 

_“Excellent.” Her dragon slithers upright, walking down a staircase of gold to meet her foes._

 

_“...You won't get away with this.” Joker yells, summoning Arsene to his side. And Kasumi can't help but sneer._

**Author's Note:**

> -In my dream, Kasumi and Goro were childhood friends, or something of the sort.  
> -Kasumi is not homophobic, not in canon nor in this "AU". She's just.. not a good person. I realized too late into writing this that it can be misinterpreted.  
> -Kasumi's "power" is bonding people together, represented by the eyeball. Not in the way of a Confidant, but more of a psychic link. Breaking this link so roughly has consequences...  
> -This is actually my second dream I had where Kasumi was Not A Good Person. This one was decidedly more interesting and eerie, however.  
> -I might make a resolution to this. Who knows?


End file.
